Well, so I started this in the lactic board b/c I thought I was probably going to go with something different. But it looks like it will be another Cam for me this weekend! So I am moving this here. And here's the plan:

Process, floc time etc are generally per the Cam/Brie recipe template on the wiki. Will update as I get into it. On the heels of my most recent Cam attempt - the first that hit the target for the style in any meaningful way - I am very hopeful that a goaty version will be a nice variation.

Thanks, getting prepped tonight for the make tomorrow. Since I will have an additional gallon or so of your milk, I am thinking of making traditional Mexican 'cajeta' / dulce de leche with it this evening.

- I accidentally let the ripening time run to 110 minutes (vs. Brie/Cam recommended 90), although if my pH meter is right it only went down to 6.5-6.6 rather than the recommended 6.4

- Curds seem drier/firmer than my prior cow's milk Cam efforts, more distinct. Will have to see how they knit as I flip the molds.

- Curd yield is a lot less than expected, filling 3 molds only moderately on the first go-round, whereas similar cow's milk batches filled 5 with waiting and settling.

- Whey was very milky, leading me to believe maybe I lost a lot of solids/fat. I had taken Calcium Chloride out of the recipe before due to using raw milk, and I guess I should have put it back in for this goat's milk effort?

Tasting and drinking Steff's milk in my coffee today too - wow, it is really nice. Very rich and smooth and clean tasting, I had thought there would be more of a barnyardy/goaty edge to it. Caramels made with it yesterday came out very nice also!

I echo Steff on the taste of goat milk. No one drinking my goat milk can tell it's not cow milk. It's true that some people are totally not used to the fat content of whole milk to the point that it tastes strange to them but the flavor should not be goaty.

I've had a time or two of milky whey and I'm not sure about the reason but it is not a need for calcium chloride. Steff might have ideas and I wonder if it's about strength of coagulation:

Hmmm. I'm pretty gentle. I usually do it slowly by hand (my hand in the pot) so that I can bring up pieces that need to be cut smaller. I wonder if I didn't let the curds heal long enough after cutting? How do you cut curds, Steff? Knife? Whisk? How do you get them the size you want them? I'm always wondering about that as I cut.......it seems like one of those impossible things to do well unless you have a curd cutting harp.

I use a curd knife, but any knife long enough will work, to cut the vertical and horizontal cuts....I then use a stainless steel ladle and drag it across the cut curd to make the "depth" cuts. As you get lower, closer to the bottom tho, guesstimating the thickness of the cut becomes a bit more problematic, but this makes for a good start and works for me better than other methods I have tried.

So . . . these are looking OK, I guess. I won't really know about flavor until they are ripe in 3-4 weeks, but they are doing OK in the cave so far. Very stark white and very dense/heavy feeling for their size.